Thorgerson was responsible for ageless covers of The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Atom Heart Mother

Graphic designer Storm Thorgerson stands next to his album cover of the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Thorgerson, who designed many of their most famous single and album covers, has died.

Storm Thorgerson, whose iconic album artwork served as the public face of Pink Floyd for nearly 50 years, went to that great gig in the sky on Thursday. He was 69.

The English photographer and graphic designer — responsible for the ageless covers of TheDark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Atom Heart Mother, along with memorable work for Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Black Sabbath and Muse — had been battling cancer.

“Yes, Storm has died. He passed away, on Thursday 18th April in the afternoon,” said a family statement issued through Thorgerson’s management company and posted on the website of childhood friend and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. “His ending was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends. He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003. He was in his 70th year.”

Thorgerson, a native of Potter’s Bar, and his Hipgnosis design house were inseparable from Pink Floyd from the band’s inception. Thorgerson designed every Floyd album cover from 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets onward, perfectly capturing the lysergic spirit of the band’s mood-altering music in a manner that quickly came to stand in for images of the band itself as its outward identity. He was still working with the band in 2011 when it issued lavish “Immersion” box sets of The Wall, Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon: fancy collectors sets that each contained, among other goodies, a handful of marbles. His cracked sense of humour remained intact until the end.

“Storm still chortles that someone asked him what on earth the marbles represented and he said: ‘It’s to show you that the band still hasn’t lost their marbles,’” laughed drummer Nick Mason in an interview with the Star in late 2011.

Gilmour posted a touching tribute on his website on Thursday: “We first met in our early teens. We would gather at Sheep’s Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge, and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing has ever really changed.

“He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend. The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work.